Ekona

I suspect not far off the same price. At least you can go to an indy for the M cars. Still, good to know that there is some kind of service plan, for whatever car that one that Stevo dug up is for. Rotate the tyres though, seriously?! I thought this was the progressive future? Tesla is as much about marketing as it is the technology. That warranty thing is pretty nice to have, and certainly makes a nice tagline.

Utter bobbins. Of course there's things to service! Please don't tell me that EV owners in general (not you, I'm sure you wouldn't as you're not daft) genuinely believe that they can buy one of these things and never worry about taking it to a garage for an annual look over? I can't believe people that buy these would be home mechanics either, as a rule.

Ah, but I also have the tiny buzzy irritating little Jap sports car too, I'm not sure I could live the 645 if I didn't own that as well. Different strokes for different folks, absolutely. It's why some people STILL buy base Astras, after all!

EVs don't make noise and they don't smell, ergo I never want one. If I ever have a choice between manned EV and unmanned ICE, I'm going for a gun to shoot myself with.

I was looking at it that someone using a ZOE or A.N. Other small city car is unlikely to do big miles in a month, as it'll all be small journeys. If that's the case, then a 1L car will do a lot of miles to a single tank. Two tanks of fuel may well get you as far as a single monthly payment on the batteries would, without any of the downsides of knowing you have a limited range with restricted charging opportunities if you decide to venture out of town.

But that's a constant cost, which doesn't look that much cheaper than a tank full of 95 Ron...

Early electronics were incredibly simple, and any idiot with a soldering iron can repair them. Who repairs modern TVs? Well, you don't, you throw the PCB or screen away and fit a new one, which again is easy to do (well, the PCB is anyway!). It's a good point, but EVs have an awful lot of proprietary software and hardware controlling them. That kind of stuff isn't going to be made available now, or ever. In fairness the same applies with modern cars and ECUs, but an engine is an engine and up to a point you can easily go standalone. I do not believe that will ever be the case with EVs and their complex systems, as to reverse engineer that is going to be a nightmare if not impossible.

How much will EVs depreciate? What are the costs of the batteries? Is anything serviceable? It's all great buying new or used under manufacturer warranty, but who is going to fix and repair these things in the future? Certainly not you or I, and main dealers are going to be creaming the money in.

This is why buying cheap cars with big engines is fun: Fuel may cost you more, but you can get a hell of a lot of the stuff for the £££ you save!

Jesus, that's possibly the single most patronising and ridiculous post I've ever seen here, and coming from a master of those types of post that's saying something. Perhaps I should put up a load of questions about plumbing that you won't know the answers to? Or maybe someone who does accounting could quiz you on the minutiae of balance sheets? Or a hairdresser could interrogate you on the pros and cons of different hair dyes? Shock news, this is the internet, and no-one knew you were High Grand Master of Engineering. Not everyone knows everything, so to try and show off your knowledge of stuff that 99% of people don't ever really need to know about is belittling in its highest form of knobbery.

It's a no-brainer, MPSS. There are other good tyres, like the Eagle F1s for example, but even they're not quite as good all round as the Michelins which will also last longer than the competition.

Clicky clicky

Tell them that, on the balance of probabilities, they caused the damage as everything was fine before they touched it. Ask them to put it in writing that they refuse to repair it, and then if they do inform them you'll be contacting small claims court for the costs. Go get a quote from a reputable garage, and that's your cost right there. That's the perfect scenario. Now, whilst it's highly improbable that suddenly the pipe let go, it's also not impossible. I'd be looking at a fall back plan of them to cover the labour if you cover the parts, and obviously another regas for free.

Take it back, get them to fix at their cost. Easy.

No, it's a joke. You won't break your HR engine by putting other grades of oil in. In fact, if you were FI you may benefit from a slightly thicker grade, like a 5w-40. I'd rather put a decent 5w-40 in than a 5w-30 with Magnatec on the bottle!

I don't get the problem. You have two people coming to see you tomorrow with cash, yes? Let them both arrive, whoever puts the highest amount in your hand gets the car. I would worry about wasting J17s time, it's not like they haven't wasted enough of other people's!

If that had the Recaros, I'd sell my mother to own it

Good luck finding a phase2 V6 for nine and a half! I'd love one of those, in Liquid Yellow, but I've massively missed the boat sadly

Well, you can write the Citroen and the Lotus off

I saw a Tesla saloon on the A406 yesterday. Blends (blands?) in very well. He was sat next to me in his nice shiny electric car, pootling along in silence. It was serene, and the full leather and the giant touchscreen looked a lovely place to be. I was sat there in my noisy thirsty old car, making mechanical noises whilst my ankle started to ache from operating the clutch whilst the V8 made lovely grumbly noises as it spat it's horrible fumes out into the atmosphere. I wouldn't have swapped for all the money in the world. For me, that's something you either get or you don't, and I don't think anyone on either side of the argument could be swayed to the alternative. I'd have an EV as a shopping trolley car if I lived in a city, but never as a fun car to shed tears of blood, sweat and joy over.

@Sharkmatt: That's a great list bud, but do you realise you've not put a single reliable vehicle in there? What would use for a daily drive? Not being picky, I'm genuinely curious as to how you would use each of them

Even I'm bored of pointing out that no electric car will ever be as fun for me as something light with a petrol engine and RWD. I'd rather have a nice mk1 MX5 than a P85S Tesla, and I genuinely mean that. It's the same reasoning behind why I'd like to drive a 1000bhp GT-R for a day, but I'd rather own a 100bhp Caterham for life. Each to their own, and maybe EVs are the future, but it's not a future I'll ever see in my lifetime nor do I wish to. I'm a petrolhead: The clue is in the name.

Paddles yes, sequential no. Just a standard torque converter.

Have fun guys

Fair enough. What a hero you truly are, sir!